Running board and the like



@My E6, wm., T. W. DELANTY RUNNING BOARD AND THE LIKE Filed July l5, 1939 V//AIIIIHIW//fA Patented July 16, 1940 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RUNNING BOARD AND THE LIKE Thomas W. Delanty, Evanston, Ill., assignor to Apex Railway Products Co., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of- Delaware Application July 15, 1939, Serial No. 284,593

4 Claims Cl. 105-457) 'Ihis invention relates to improvements in runfor a better bottom edge engagement upon the ning boards and the like, of the open grating type, associated support.

and it consists of the matters hereinafter de- A further object of the invention is to provide scribed and more particularly pointed out in the attaching means of this kind which when the 5 appended claims, board is in place, is under tension and therefore I The invention is more especially concerned with resists the tendency of said means to loosen. the means for attaching the running board to a The above mentioned objects of the invention, support such as may be employed in connection as well as others, together with the advantages Withthe roof gf a, railway Car, thereof will more fully appear as the specification l Heretofore it has been the practice to attach proceeds. 10

such boards to the support by means of U shaped In the drawing:

bolts with the bend of the bolts engaged with a Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the abutting ends of part of an associated bar and drawn down against adjacent sections of a running board and assothe support by associated nuts. While this arciated parts of the roof of a railway car upon l rangement represented an advance in the art, it Whichthe board is mounted. ll had certain disadvantages which the present in- Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view, vention seeks to overcome. on an enlarged scale, through parts appearing in In drawing such U shaped bolts down tightly, Fig. 1 as taken on the line 2-2 of said Fig. 1. the pull of both legs of the bolt is not always Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical detail sectional even and uniform and in a plane at a right angle View, on a further'enlarged scale, through a part l0 to the support. This uneven pull of the U shaped of the improved attaching means as taken on the bolt, has the tendency to twist the engaged bar line 3-3 of Fig. 2. with respect to others. Therefore, all of the bars Fig. 4 is a longitudinal detail vertical sectional of the board do not have that good firm engageview of certain parts appearing in and on the ment on the support, necessary to reduce the scale of Fig. 3 as taken on the line 4 4 thereof. 25

tendency of the board to loosen from its support Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modi- `.to the detriment of the safety factor of the board. ed form 0f Securing a certain plate member of Again, such U bolts require the use of two nuts the attaching means t0 tWO adjacent baIS 0f the each and this increases both the material cost and running board.

the labor cost of application. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the parts of the running .0

It has also been the practice to use hook bolts board only appearing in Fig. 3 showing the use of but these are likewise objectionable because the a round shank bolt hole and bolt in the plate pull is exerted on one side so that the tendency member 0f the attaching means.

is to twist the bars of the running board. Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 and shows the One of the objects of the present invention is to use of a bolt having a rectangular shank portion $5 provide a simple though improved means for atfor engagement in a correspondingly shaped hole taching a running board to the associated supin the plate member 0f the attaching means. ports upon which it is engaged and which means Referring now in detail to that embodiment of is easier to apply and when applied provides a the invention illustrated in the accompanying 40 uniform downward pull of the bars so that they drawing, |0--I0 yindicate the ends of a pair of 40 do not become twisted or loosened so readily asV abutting sections of the running board, said board with the means heretofore used. being made in sections instead of one` long length Again, it is an object of the invention to profor economy in manufacture, installation and revide a Spanner element for cooperation with a placement due to collision or other damage.

fastening bolt, which Spanner element is so dis- Each section comprises a set of transversely 45 posed as to be spaced upwardly from the bottom spaced longitudinally extending, edgewise disedges of the running board bars so that the bars posed metal bars H-II and a set of longitudialone engage the support. nally spaced transversely extending bars IZ-IZ.

Another object of the invention is to provide If desired, the running board sections may be an improved fastening means of this kind which made with one of the latter bars at each end does not project above the tread surface of the of each section. The bars of said sets may be bars and which functions upon two adjacent bars secured together in operative relation in any suitsimultaneously in a manner that does not tend able manner but as the same forms no part of the to twist either bar but on the contrary acts to present invention, it need not be shown or dehold said bars in a straight edgewise condition scribed in detail. The top edges of the bars in 55 both sets are disposed in the same horizontal plane. While the bottom edges of the longitudinal bars are disposed in a horizontal plane, and the bottom edges of the transverse bars are disposed in a horizontal plane, said horizontal planes are disposed in different elevations. In this instance, the plane of the bottom edges of said longitudinal bars is the lower in elevation.

With thebars of both sets of bars arranged as described, it is apparent that said bars provide a grating, with the elongated openings I3 defined by said bars, extending longitudinally of the board.

In each of certain of the openings I3, I provide a plate member I4 which is fixed to the opposed bars forming the two sides of the opening. In this instance, in certain of the end and intermediate openings I3 of each running board section I0, I provide a plate member I4 of a width equal to the distance between the opposed faces of two longitudinal bars I I and less than the distance between the opposed faces of twotransverse bars I2-I 2. Preferably said plate members are made square so that a space is present between the ends of said plate member and the adjacent transverse bars.

Each plate member is arranged below the longitudinal median line of the associated bars I I with its bottom face spaced above the plane of the bottom edges of said bars as appears in Fig. 3. The plate members I4 may be secured to the bars II-II in several different ways but welding is the preferred form. In said Fig. 3 the welding, which is indicatedat I5, is made from-'the top side of the running board and in Fig. 5 the welding, which is indicated at I5a, is made from the underside of the running board. This last mentioned form is preferred because when said plate member is under tension, as will later appear, said welding provides a direct support for the plate member and the welding is placed under compression and not under tensionas in Fig. 3.

The board sections Ill-I0 before described may be mounted on the roof of a railway car in the following manner: Assume that said roof includes metallic sheets I6 running transversely of the associated car body. Under such conditions, the abutting ends of the roof sheets are flanged upwardly as at II and an expansion strip I8 is disposed between said flanges. A cap strip I9 of inverted U shaped section is employed to cover said flanges with flange parts I 9a of the cap strip overlying marginal parts of the sheets I6. In connection with the roof seam structure described, an angle bar 20 is located on each side of the cap strip with the horizontal flanges 2l facing outwardly from the cap strip and arranged in a plane spaced below the top edge of the cap strip at a distance corresponding to the height of the bars II of the running board. 'I'he vertical flanges 22 of said angle bars engage with the side faces of the cap strip and are riveted or bolted thereto as appears at 23 in Fig. 2. A sealing strip 24 is applied to the top margin of the cap strip I9 above the angle bar flanges 2| and said strip is formed with lateral flanges 25 that overlap upon the top surface of said horizontal flanges 2I of theangle bars. 'Ihe sealing strip prevents the entrance of Water between the sides of the cap strip and the vertical flanges 22 of the angle bars.

The horizontal flanges of the angle bars constitute supports upon which the bottom'edges of the longitudinal bars II-II of each board section engage, with the plate member I4 arranged above a portion of each horizontal flange. Of course, holes are formed in the flanges 2I of the angle bars and flanges 25 of the sealing strip to register with holes 26 in the plate members I4 of the running board sections Ill-I0.

When the ends of abutting running board sections are disposed upon said flanges 2l, bolts 21 are inserted through the registering holes mentioned, with the head end of said bolts engaged on said plate members, after'which nuts 28 are applied to the bottom ends of said bolts, and which bottom ends project below the bottom surface of said flanges. When bolts, having full length circular shanks are employed, then said plate members each have a round hole I4a therein, as shown in Fig. 6. When the plate members I4 are of the kind having the square hole Ib, as appears in Fig. 7, then the bolts employed are of the carriage bolt type and have squared portions on the shank that engage in said holes. This prevents the bolts from turning in the plate member and makes it easier to apply the nuts 28 thereto.

When the nuts 28y are drawn up tight on the bolts, the latter are placed under tension and in turn place the plate members under tension. This materially assists in preventing loosening of the nuts on the bolts. Also, when said nuts are drawn up tight, the ends of all of the bars II are drawn into a rigid seating engagement upon the flanges 2| of the angle bars 20.

As the plate members I4 are disposed below the longitudinal center of the bars II-II, the downward pull of the bolts 21 does not tend to spread the bottom edges of the bars apart to twist them. Therefore, the pull of the bolts is a straight downward pull that insures a firm seating engagement of the bottom edges of the bars upon the supports provided by the flanges 2l of the angle bars 20-20. As the bottom surfaces of the plate-like members I4 are disposed slightly above the bottom edges of the bars, the pull on said plate members by the bolts is not affected, as would be the case were the plate members directly to engage said supporting flanges.

It is apparent that the pull of each bolt is transmitted directly to two adjacent longitudinal bars of each board section and this pull is exerted in a straight downward direction. 'I'herefore, there is no tendency to twist either of the adjacent bars to warp them out of engagement with said flanges 2|.

'Ihe improved fastening means is not only simple in construction, but it is indeed eicient in operation in holding the ends of the longitudinal bars of the running board sections evenly and iligidly upon the flanges of the supporting aigle ars.

While in describing my invention, I have referred in detail to the form, arrangement and construction of the parts involved, the same is to be considered only in the illustrative sense so that I do not wish to be limited thereto except as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a part of a running board of the open grating type and including a set of vertically edgewise disposed bars extending generally in the same direction and having their bottom edges disposed in the same plane, a support below and upon which the bottom edges of said bars engage, an apertured plate-like element disposed entirely between and having two opposite edges welded to the opposed faces of two adjacent bars with its upper surface arranged below the Vertical mid points of said opposed faces and with its bottom surface arranged slightly above the bottom edges of said two bars, and a bolt extending through the apertured platelike element and having an associated nut securing said plate-like element to said support and functioning through said plate-like element to draw the bottom edges of said two adjacent bars into a tight engagement with said support, said plate-like element holding the bottom marginal portion of said two adjacent bars against lateral outward spreading in the tightening of the bolt through its associated nut.

2. In combination with a part of a running board of the open grating type and including a set of vertically edgewise disposed bars extending generally in the same direction and having their bottom edges disposed in the same plane, a support below and upon which the bottom edges of said bars engage, an apertured plate-like element disposed entirely between and having two opposite edges welded to the opposed faces of two adjacent bars with its upper surface arranged below the vertical mid points of said opposed faces and with its bottom surface arranged slightly above the bottom edges of said two bars, and a bolt extending through the apertured plate-like element and having an associated nut securing said plate-like element to said support and functioning through said plate-like element to draw the bottom edges of said two adjacent bars into a tight engagement with said support, said platelike element having a thickness greater thanthat of said bars and holding the bottom marginal portion of said two adjacent bars against lateral outward spreading in the tightening of the bolt' through its associated nut.

3. As an article of manufacture, a running board section of the grating type comprising two sets of spaced apart bars, the bars forming one set being disposed at an angle to those in the other set, but being operatively secured thereto and at least one set being vertically edgewise, an apertured plate-like element having opposed edges engaged with and welded to opposed faces of two adjacent bars in at least one set of vertically edgewise bars, with its upper surface arranged below the vertical mid points of said opposed faces and with its bottom surface arranged slightly above the bottom edges of said two adjacent bars.

4. As an article of manufacture, a running board section of the grating type comprising two sets of spaced apart bars, thebars forming one set being disposed at an angle to those in the other set, but being operatively secured thereto and at least one set being vertically edgewise, an apertured plate-like element of a thickness greater than that of said vertically edgewise bars, having opposed edges engaged with and welded to the opposed faces of two adjacent bars in at least one set of vertically edgewise bars, with its upper surfacearrangedbelow the vertical mid point of said opposed faces and with its bottom surface arranged slightly above the bottom edges of said two adjacent bars.

THOMAS w. DELANTY. 

